Surprise
by ObsidianWolf001
Summary: It's Uta's birthday, and Kaneki wants to make it special. Written for UtaKane Week 2k15. Once again, Obsidian only. I'm obsessive. Don't question me. No smut here, but stay tuned.


Uta was always a quiet, collected man. He was cool under fire and didn't talk about himself much. So Kaneki was very careful to make sure to keep it to himself that he had learned from Touka about Uta's birthday. It fell on a Wednesday this year, which would have been a pain in the ass were Uta not a huge stickler for date night. Normally, they would just go to Itori's or go hunting or stay in and watch movies. But, though he hadn't let Uta know, he had made a plan for today so that they could celebrate.

He worked on it all day, starting early in the morning, getting up before Uta did and going to the coffee machine downstairs to make the coffee. He brewed it quick and quiet, and then went right back upstairs with Uta's cup in his hands. When he got back upstairs, Kaneki sat his cup on the end table by his side of the bed, and laid down beside him to watch him sleep. He was quiet, but the smell of coffee was rousing him, and Kaneki smiled softly when he opened his eyes, nodding behind Uta when his kakugan eyes were turned on Kaneki in question.

"Good morning." Uta mumbled sleepily, leaning in for a morning kiss.

Normally Kaneki laid perfectly still until Uta pulled away in the mornings. Mornings were hard for Kaneki, because his brain kept in hyperdrive, watching for anything, and touching Kaneki early in the mornings usually led to a fight. But every now and again, Uta would forget and lean in for a kiss anyway. Today, Kaneki kissed him back, watching his slightly shocked eyes when he pulled back.

"What?" Kaneki asked.

Uta shook his head, sitting up on his elbows and looking over his shoulder. "Nothing. Normally I would have gotten bit for that. Not that I'm complaining, but it's just unusual. Is everything alright?" He asked, picking up his coffee and taking a sip. "Mmm, amazing coffee. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Everything is fine." Kaneki answered, smiling at him and stretching before getting up off the bed again. "Just a good morning."

Uta watched him for a moment over the lip of the coffee cup, his hair still down and over one eye, as if taking stock of Kaneki and making sure he hadn't snuck out into a fight again, then nodded. "Okay. Whatever you say." He replied, taking a sip of his coffee again.

Kaneki sighed and stood up, cracking his neck. That was phase one, starting the day out right. He stayed close until the shop opened, keeping his eye half on Uta while he opened up and pulled some of the cloths off of the mannequins and cleaned up. It was quiet, so he switched on his music and left it on in the background, checking in his stock room because he had extra time, and then the bell chimed while Kaneki was reading on his couch in the corner of Uta's shop by the door. Yomo came in to ask Uta to Itori's that night, but Uta simply shook his head, reminding him "tonight's date night, and it's Kaneki's choice." He stayed for a moment longer to chat, and nodded at Kaneki as he left.

All had gone as planned.

After a while, Uta went up with a cup of coffee, and Kaneki kept reading. A few moments after he had gone, the door chimed, and in walked a group of men, who proceeded to fan out. Kaneki watched them inspect some of the masks before the leader, the quietest one, looked over at him.

"Are you the owner?" He asked.

Kaneki shook his head, looking around and seeing the door open to the apartment. "Uta!" He called.

Uta came down the stairs with his lukewarm coffee, and Kaneki nodded to Uta, watching the other men move toward him. He was a little crazy after everything that had happened, but he always kept a close eye on people who got near to Uta. The new man was only here to comission his first mask, and Uta was happy to take him. He went toward the space where he took everyone's measurements, but stopped when he saw a box on the table beside the measuring tape on top of his sketchbook.

Kaneki put his book down, smiling when Uta turned to look at him. "What is this?" Uta asked.

Kaneki shrugged, nodding at it. "Open it."

Uta turned back around and lifted the simple brown package and tore it open with one finger, lifting it up to his face to smell before he lifted the lid of the lacquered black box. He blinked, gently lifting the mask off of the rise in the velvet inside, and inspecting it close by his face. The left half was black, detailed in white over the eyebrow and and lips with needlepoint stitching, while the right side was the opposite, in all white with black stitching. Down the center where the seam was bore red stitching of Greek letters, 'Είσαι το άλλο μου μισό πάντα.' _You are my other half always._ Done in the style of his tattoo, English to Latin, then to Greek.

Kaneki watched him inspect it with a slowly sinking sense of enthusiasm. "I did it all myself, bought the best stuff I could and worked it all out on my own. It's probably not very good, but..."

"It's beautiful. You watched me work and copied what you'd seen me do. It's the same stitching and knotwork and all. You even worked the leather yourself?" He asked.

Kaneki nodded. "You like it?" He asked.

Uta excused himself from the room for a moment, and dragged Kaneki into the little alcove that took them to the stairs to the apartment, where he shut the door and kissed Kaneki. "I love it, and I love you." He promised.

Kaneki smiled. "Happy birthday." He declared.

Uta rolled his eyes. "Who told you?" He asked.

Kaneki chuckled. "Touka was at the post office when I went to get your delivery of leather the other day. We were talking and she just kind of let it slip." He told him.

Uta smiled a little. "She always comes by around now with a present. It's nice, but unnecessary." He answered.

"Tough. Because I will always find a way to get you a present." Kaneki declared.

The rest of the day was relatively quiet. Touka came by later on with a jar of eyeballs, Uta's favorite treat, and marvelled at the mask's intricacies while Kaneki read. Uta was strategic in his waiting for Touka to give the mask her praise before he told her who had made it. She was equal parts amazed and disgruntled that Uta had gotten one over on her, but she acknowledged Kaneki before taking her leave.

As the day came to a close, Uta locked the door on the shop before coming up to Kaneki where he was napping on the couch, settling his chin on the cushion by Kaneki's face. He didn't move to wake Kaneki. He knew Kaneki wasn't sleeping well. He would often wake a bit to see Kaneki coming to bed with bloody fingers and tears streaming down his face. Uta didn't mention it to Kaneki, but he was silently hoping he would be alright.

"You're staring at me." Kaneki mumbled drowsily. His kakugan eye opened on him.

"You were sleeping peacefully. It's rare for you recently. I'm just enjoying it." Uta explained.

Kaneki sat up a little bit, rubbing the kakugan. "What time is it?" He asked.

Uta glanced over his shoulder at the wall clock in the studio, over the desk. "Exactly 6 p.m." He answered.

"Damn." Kaneki groaned. "We're gonna be late." He rolled off the couch, grabbing his mask and tucking it in his back pocket. "Come on."

Uta stood from where he'd crouched by the couch, and, rather than grab his No Face mask, took the other one. He grinned at it. "I already know what they'll call it." He said.

"What?" Kaneki asked, grabbing the spare set of keys from the desk.

"Domino." He answered, and Kaneki blinked when he glanced up. "What would you call it?"

Kaneki shrugged, pulling on his own hoodie. "It could be anything. You never know with them. I always called it Halfling, but Domino is probably more likely." He answered, not meeting Uta's eyes.

Uta caught Kaneki's hand, forcing him to face Uta, and placed his hand over Kaneki's kakuhou, watching the white-haired man gasp. "Hey." He tilted his wide eyes to catch Kaneki's. "I only have one Halfling in my life, and I only need one. Okay?"

Kaneki bit his lip and nodded. "I get it." He agreed.

Uta smiled and released Kaneki from his hold. "Lead the way."

Kaneki reached for the mask and helped slip it on. Every week they would blindfold the other and lead them to where they would have their date. Usually the No Face mask was used because Kaneki's head was smaller than Uta's, and he would actually be blinded, and Uta would wear a bandana over his eyes. But they both were stuck on that mask tonight.

Uta was surprised at how well it fit him. He didn't mention it to Kaneki, but it was perfectly fitted to him, and moved with his face. There was only one problem.

"I'll finish it when we come home. The lack of eyes and nose is all by design." Kaneki promised.

They walked for a while, Uta completely blind as they did, and then warmer air hit him. The building they had reached was plenty warm compared with the December weather outside, and then Kaneki was releasing his hand.

"You can look now." Kaneki said, and when Uta started to move the mask away from his face, he smelled the familiar alcohol and bloodwine and mahogany smell.

Helter Skelter was full with their ghoul friends. Yomo and Itori, Touka, Yoshimura, Kimi and Nishio all stood with different states of comfort around the establishment, though they were the only ones there. Kaneki stood a few feet away while they all did the natural "Surprise," Itori and Kimi more enthusiastically than the others. He watched nervously, scanning the room once and then again, and grinned sheepishly when Uta turned to him with a smile on his face. "You planned this?" He asked.

Kaneki nodded, cracking his knuckles. "Happy birthday." He mumbled for the second time that day.

Uta smiled, pulling him close for a quick kiss. "Thank you Kaneki."

The night rolled on with music and drinking, smiles everywhere, and small food parts for the ghouls, as well as a small cake that Kimi could eat, obviously something that Kaneki had thought of. They all fawned over Uta's newest mask, each seeming shocked that Kaneki had made it, and vowed to try as well. There were a few gag gifts he chuckled at, but the night went well. Kaneki, for the most part, sat in the corner, slumped against the wall watching the ghouls plus Kimi have a good time. He could hardly keep his eyes open, but Kimi and Itori kept him awake with offers to dance or a fresh drink, respectively. Mostly Kaneki denied, but he seemed like he needed a drink.

Uta leaned on the bar by Yomo and Itori. "How long has he been planning this?" He asked.

Yomo put his glass down. "All of last week and this week." Yomo answered.

Itori nodded, passing Uta more bloodwine. "We were getting ready to start planning when he came in. You should have told him we always do this. We didn't though, because he was just too cute." Itori cooed, leaning in on her hands.

"He's tired." Yomo mentioned, looking at Kaneki as his chin touched his chest again. "Not surprising, but you should take him home."

Kimi slid up to the bar, finishing a drink she'd been nursing most of the night as Yomo made the suggestion. "Not likely. He almost bit my head off when I told him to go home after decorating yesterday. He won't cut out early even if he falls asleep on Nishiki." She said calmly. "By the way, because I haven't gotten to say it yet, happy birthday Mr. Uta."

Kaneki stood in the corner from his perch, stretching his arms over his head as Yoshimura approached with a cup of coffee, which he gratefully accepted. He took a long drink, and cracked his knuckles again, rubbing his temples as his eyes searched for Uta. He smiled sleepily and Uta stood to go to him.

"Hey. Are you having a good time?" Kaneki asked him.

He grabbed Kaneki's hand and pulled him close enough to kiss. He heard Itori cheer, and Nishio started heckling Kaneki, but Uta kissed him until he couldn't breathe. When they pulled away, he watched Kaneki, speaking as if they were alone.

"Are you tired?" He demanded.

Kaneki's face was bright red, in stark contrast to his white hair, and after he blinked, he nodded a little. "Yeah, but it can wait." He offered. "Don't worry about me."

Uta shook his head. "If you're tired, we'll go home. You need to rest. You haven't been sleeping and all of this ran you down to the bone. Come on. The kiss will make it look like my idea." He suggested.

Kaneki sighed and nodded. As they left, Itori passed Uta a bottle of bloodwine before leaving. Kaneki was quiet the whole walk to HySy. When they returned, Uta shut the door behind them and pulled him toward the stairs. Kaneki took the hoodie off and hung it on a rack down by the door before they went upstairs to the apartment and Uta slung his jacket over the desk downstairs. Kaneki dropped his mask on the table and went into the kitchen for the automated coffee machine that rarely saw any use since he'd moved in, yawning the whole way.

"What are you doing?" Uta asked.

"I just have to finish your mask. I'll be in bed in a minute." He promised, but Uta wasn't having it.

He yanked the plug on the coffee machine after laying the mask on the table beside Kaneki's, and lifted the smaller ghoul from his feet before carrying him into their bedroom. Kaneki struggled a little, but Uta pinned him. "You are not going anywhere but this bed. Do you understand?" He asked.

Kaneki tried to wriggle his way free from under Uta, but Uta wouldn't give. He sighed, nodding. "Alright. Okay, fine. I'm going to sleep. But if I have to go to sleep so do you." He answered.

Uta acknowledged the point and pulled his shirt over his head, allowing Kaneki the freedom to do the same before he took off his pants and slid under the covers. Kaneki took off his tee and pants, and dropped them by the bedside before doing the same, settling on Uta's chest with him. "I love you." Kaneki told him.

Uta smiled, wrapping his arms around Kaneki and holding him close. "I love you too, Kaneki. Thank you for all of today." He replied.

Kaneki turned red in the face again. He hadn't meant to be so obvious about the whole day. "I don't know what you mean. All I did was plan a party." He suggested. "Kimi and Itori did most of the work."

Uta chuckled. "I don't believe a word of that. You gave me a good morning kiss, and got up early to make me coffee. You made me a mask and stuck close all day today making sure that no one bothered me. You ran yourself to exhaustion to make me happy. That was quite a bit." He told him. "And Itori and Kimi both have big mouths on them, as nice as Kimi is. Itori said you planned it all of last week and this, and Kimi said you were the one who did the decorating for it as well. I know you brought the cake, because none of them there...well, no, Yoshimura might have thought of it, but still. Not many of them would have thought of that."

Kaneki was bright red, his skin a hair too warm. "It isn't all that much." He mumbled.

Uta caught his chin and kissed him again. "It was everything. Best birthday I've ever had." He suggested.

Kaneki sighed, settling his head back on Uta's shoulder. "I'm glad you liked it." He answered.

Uta settled back into the mattress, enjoying the warmth of the man on top of him. He felt bad for letting Kaneki continue to think it was a new thing to him, so he decided that he should probably tell him.

"Hey, Kaneki?" He said quietly.

There was no answer. When Uta looked down at him, Kaneki's eyes were closed, and his breathing was heavy. His fingers had curled into loose fists, as if he were clutching Uta's shirt, and his mouth was slightly lax.

Nah. It could wait another year.


End file.
